Aki
by Torchi-chan
Summary: Sanji ends up with a baby dragon, and now it's up to him and the crew to bring it back to where it truly belongs, with its real mother. The journey will be hard, and new relationships will be built along the way. Rated M, Zosan. This fic is made for the Zosan Secret Valentine event that's going on, and this is my gift to c-dragon-pirates.


Sanji looked over at the large egg he had on the counter, wrapped up in a few kitchen towels to keep it from rolling to the edge and falling over. He took a drag of his cigarette as he diced an onion, mulling over all the recipes he could make with such a large egg. Sanji knew that he could make a meal or two for the whole crew with an egg this big, with other dishes as well of course. It was a dull gray color with small little specks of blue and red littering the shell. It wasn't smooth either, as it had small little bumps and grooves all over the surface. The egg was almost three times the size of his head, and pretty heavy to boot. He idly wondered what type of egg it was, but pushed that thought to the back of his head. It was food and it didn't matter what massive animal laid it.

Just as Sanji was finished peeling the carrots and getting ready to cut them up, he heard a crack coming from the right. He looked around with a furrowed brow, eyes resting on the egg. Sanji stared at it for a moment in alarm, eyes narrowing. When nothing happened, he shook his head and turned his attention back to the task at hand. Just as he was about to continue cutting the carrots, the cracking sound returned but this time it was much louder. Sanji's head shot up in alarm, turning his eyes to the egg once more.

To his horror, there was a large crack along the middle of the egg. That wasn't a good sign, something was coming out of the thing! Sanji stared at the egg, willing for it to just stop. He just wanted to cook the stupid thing and stop any whines of hunger from his idiot captain before they even started. But that seemed like it was too much to ask, as the egg jerked slightly within the towel bed that Sanji had made for it. He heard another cracking sound and this time, a piece of the shell lifted up a bit and returned to where it had risen from, smaller cracks surrounding the opening.

Sanji sucked in a harsh breath, blue eyes widening in shock. This was actually happening, and he really didn't know what to do. He watched as the egg moved once more, the loose piece of shell falling off the egg and onto the towels. More pieces lifted from the egg, some falling off as the creature within the egg moved around restlessly, trying to free itself from its confines within the egg.

He watched in fascinated horror as more of the egg broke apart and a clawed foot emerged from the egg. Before he could comprehend what was really happening or what type of creature this was, the foot retreated back into the egg and the top half of the shell fell off after the thing inside it gave a final, hard push to get out.

To Sanji's shock, the creature within the egg was what looked to be a dragon. A very slimy and blue dragon to be exact. Sanji watched as the baby dragon finally crawled out of the remains of the egg, getting to its feet a little sloppily and taking a few hesitant steps. It fell down a few times until it got its proper footing. The slime that came from the egg was dripping off the dragon, right onto the counter.

Sanji watched in disgust as the dragon then started to shake its body to release as much slime as possible, messing up Sanji's shirt and the whole counter along with it. Thankfully the food wasn't touched by the goo that Sanji was now wiping off his face with a disgruntled huff. He didn't realize he had made a sound until he noticed the dragon's eyes on him, focusing right on his face.

"Uh... Hi?" Sanji asked, not exactly sure what to do about this dragon.

Before he could so much as move, the dragon scurried over to him and plopped its belly right onto his right hand which he still had on the counter. The dragon curled its long body around Sanji's wrist, cooing softly at the man.

Sanji had no idea what to do at this point. Here he was, in the galley with a dragon at the length of his arm or longer, curled around his wrist. He didn't dare move, not wanting to risk the creature acting out and damaging his hand. Sanji knew he couldn't just stand there with the dragon laying on his hand, but he didn't know what he should do.

"Oi…" Sanji muttered to the dragon, hoping that his voice would get the creature to move a little so he could pull his hand away.

The dragon looked up at him with its piercing yellow eyes and made some clicking noises at him. It got up and rubbed its snout along Sanji's arm, not unlike how he's seen cats doing for attention. Sanji bit down on the filter of his cigarette and decided to play along for now. He hesitantly ran the fingers of his right hand over the dragon's forehead, taking note of the smooth feeling of the scales and the grooves of the horns.

His eyes softened when he watched the dragon practically melt into his touch. The dragon cooed once more and looked at him, tilting its head to the right, as if asking him something. Sanji ran his fingers along the length of the dragon's back, making sure to not apply too much pressure. He ran the tips of his fingers over the point much like an arrow head that was situated at the tip of the dragon's tail. The cook rested his eyes back on the dragon's face and smiled a little, pulling his hand away from the creature.

"Come on. Let's get you cleaned up." Sanji said, keeping his tone low.

The cook slipped his hands carefully under the dragon's torso, not sure of the right way to pick this creature up. He lifted it up slowly, hands holding the dragon just under its front legs. Sanji placed the dragon into the sink with the moveable faucet to allow him to wash the creature with little hassle. Sanji rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, having taken off his jacket already.

"Now, be good and don't make a fuss." Sanji warned the dragon, giving it a stern look.

He felt a little silly for talking to the baby dragon as if it would understand him. Sanji turned the water on, making sure it was a nice, warm temperature before he turned the faucet around and let the water soak the dragon's scales. He ran his hands along its body to release any slime that was still sticking to it, amazed that that it was staying still like he'd told it to.

Sanji put the faucet back on its holder and grabbed the soap as the dragon clicked at him again, nuzzling his arm affectionately. Sanji chuckled as he squirted some soap onto his hands, rubbing them together to get some suds forming. He wasn't sure if he should be doing this, but it just felt right and he wanted the creature clean, damn it. He rubbed his hands on the dragon's neck and at the base of its skull where all the goop seemed to be sticking stubbornly to the poor little creature.

"You're an affectionate one aren't you?" He asked, making small scratching motions near the dragon's horns, grinning when the dragon closed its eyes and made some more clicking sounds, leaning into the touch.

Sanji continued to wash off the dragon, making sure to get all the goop off, washing it twice over to make sure that he got it all off. After he was done, he grabbed another kitchen towel and lifted the dragon up and into his arms so that he could dry it off as best as he could. Sanji yelped when the dragon flapped its large wings, splashing him with water droplets.

"Really? Did you have to do that?" Sanji asked, sarcasm lacing his words as he finally managed to get most of the water off the dragon's scales.

Sanji allowed the dragon to perch carefully on his shoulder, cautious not to move too suddenly, as to avoid startling the baby, or making him fall off. The dragon had some pretty wicked claws and he had no desire to see how well they could tear through his flesh.

Sanji cleaned the counter up, and wiped off as much of the goop as he could that was still caught on his shirt. He would finish the food prep, then change into a different shirt. He looked at the dragon and furrowed his brows slightly, having not had the time to fully register the situation. He was still shocked and amazed that a dragon popped out of the egg that he was planning on cooking for dinner.

Sanji was kind of glad the egg hatched when it did, as he would have felt horrible if he cracked it open and the dragon wasn't ready to come out just yet. He shook his head to get rid of that thought and allowed the dragon back onto the counter, putting the creature a reasonable distance away from the food he was preparing. Sanji started back up with his chopping, peeking over at the dragon every once in a while to make sure it stayed where it was, and out of trouble.

Sanji was shocked at how obedient the dragon was, just sitting there and watching his hands do their work, tilting its head every once in a while. He took this time to actually look the dragon over and take in its features. It was truly a beautiful creature, unlike anything he's ever seen before. He couldn't help but feel lucky for this experience, no matter how weird it was.

Sanji put the knife down and turned to look at the dragon, so he could focus completely on it. He didn't know the dragon's gender, nor did he know how to tell. He would have to ask Chopper when the little doctor got back, and maybe Chopper would know what to do. Sanji nibbled on the filter of his cigarette, mulling over what they were going to do with the dragon as his eyes roamed over the creature.

The dragon wasn't exactly small, but Sanji guessed it was small for a dragon. It was a beautiful cerulean blue, with lighter blue scales that came to a small spike down its neck and torso, ending at the dragon's hind legs. The horns on the dragon's head were a daek shade of black, just like his suits. The dragon sported four small horns along the middle of its snout, going from the middle of the nostrils to right before its eyes. The horns got smaller the further up the snout they got, the one between its nostrils being about half an inch in length and an inch thick. The horns were smooth and rounded off, so they wouldn't cause any damage if the dragon rammed them into anyone's flesh.

The area where the dragon's ears would be had a big fan of webbing, going from the base of the dragon's jaw to just before the horns at the top of the head. There was four lines of what looked to be cartilage which seemed to form the webbing effect. Its eyes were a bright yellow and could have sworn they pierced into him while he looked the creature over.

Along the dragons back, there were spiked scales that pointed downwards. These spiked scales were midnight blue, and they came to an end at the tip of the dragon's tail. The tip of the tail had what looked like an arrow head shaped scale that came to a sharp point. It too was midnight blue.

Sanji continued to study the creature, his eyes landing on its wings. It had a large wingspan, coming to be twice the size of the dragon's body. This was probably to allow the dragon to fly. The wings were a mix of blues, mostly cerulean and baby blue. There were what looked to be either spikes or claws on the area of the wings where the wings bent. Whatever they were called, they were just like the dragon's horns in colour.

Sanji couldn't help but to look down at the wicked claws that the dragon had innocently resting on the counter top. Those were what made Sanji the most wary, as they were at least four inches in length and at maybe two inches thick. They came to a very sharp point, and he didn't doubt the damage on flesh and bone those claws could cause. Just like the horns, they were black and hopefully wouldn't ever be stained red with the blood of innocent people.

Sanji shook his head, realizing that he probably sounded a lot like Usopp at this point. He reached out and scratched under the dragon's chin, studying the creature's face as it twisted into an innocently happy and content expression.

"Come on, I have to go change because you messed up my shirt." Sanji stated, picking the dragon up and cradling it in his arms.

Sanji wasn't willing to risk leaving the dragon in his galley, not even wanting to think of the consequences he would face, if he so happened to make that mistake. He shook his head to clear any thoughts of a destroyed galley and headed into the men's bunk room to change his shirt. He looked at the little dragon and set it down on one of the hammocks where it curled up and watched him.

"What am I going to do with you?" Sanji asked with a sigh, and all he got in response was a clicking sound from the little dragon.

Sanji finished putting the last dish into the sink, rolling up his sleeves to begin washing them. He heard the chattering happening in the background, which was most likely the crew trying to figure out what to do about the little dragon they now had on the crew. Sanji groped around the warm soapy water in search for a dish to wash. He had no interest in the conversation, as he tried to convince himself that he didn't care what they did with the little dragon that was currently the center of attention on the table in the galley.

"Can we eat it!?" Luffy asked loudly, practically drooling just thinking about it.

Sanji kicked their stupid captain hard enough to send him flying through the door and out of the galley, onto the grassy deck below. "LIKE HELL YOU CAN!" He roared at the idiot and went back to washing the dishes as if nothing happened.

The cook totally didn't care what they did with that dragon, not one bit. Just so long as he wasn't cooking flying lizards, they could do what they wanted with the beast. He grit his teeth, thinking back to what Chopper told him about the dragon. It was a boy, and had a strange attachment to the cook, one which Sanji wished would just go away. Chopper had happily informed him that the little dragon thought of him as its mother. That fact alone sent the crew, sans Sanji into fits of laughter.

The cook never has and never will be the mother to that little shit. Not even if someone were to offer him the love of all the beautiful ladies in the world. He refused to be the mother to a dragon, no matter what. Chopper had said it was something to do with Sanji being the one to be there when the dragon hatched, as well as the cook was the first thing the dragon heard and saw. It was nonsense and he couldn't believe that beast had the nerve to call him, of all people its mother.

Sanji chewed angrily on the filter of his cigarette, scrubbing a little too hard on a plate as he recalled what had transpired over dinner. Everyone aside from the lovely Nami-swan and Robin-chan teased the cook over the course of the meal, calling him mommy and various other stupid things. He had tried to be civil about it, asking as politely as he could manage in his irritated state for them to stop. Which, in hindsight wasn't in the least bit polite, though that's beside the point.

The teasing had finally gotten the better of Sanji and he lashed out at the closest person that wasn't a lady, and it just so happened to be the Marimo. He had caught the idiot swordsman off guard, sending him right off his chair and onto the floor with a thud and an impressive shoe mark on his face. That, of course started a fight that earned them both a fairly large bump to the head, curtsey of the beautiful Nami-san.

Sanji was pulled out of his thoughts, and back to the current events when he felt a soft had on his arm. He turned his head to look at who was touching him and practically melted when he saw whose hand was upon him. "Sanji-kun, what do you think?" Nami asked, confusing Sanji.

"I'm sorry, Nami-san. But what?" He asked, furrowing his brow.

"What do you think we should do with the dragon?" She asked once more, letting her hand fall back to her side.

Sanji deflated a little at the loss of her touch, looking to the table. He realized he'd drowned out the whole conversation. "As long as I'm not cooking that flying lizard, it doesn't really matter."

Nami crossed her arms and fixed Sanji with a hard stare. "I can't say I believe you Sanji-kun."

"What makes you say that, Nami-swan?" Sanji retracted his hands from the soapy water and wiping them on a towel that was laying on the counter.

"Sanji-kun, you kicked Luffy pretty violently when he mentioned eating that dragon." The navigator stated, crossing her arms and leaning most of her wait onto her right foot.

"Luffy was being stupid, I think he deserved that kick." Sanji huffed in defense, lighting a cigarette for lack of anything better to do with his hands.

Before Nami could respond, Robin looked over from the table with that mysterious smile of hers. "I think that our navigator is right, cook-san. You seem to care more for that dragon than you would like to admit."

Sanji shook his head and smiled. "I'm sorry Robin-chan, but I don't see what you mean. What reason do I have to care about that dragon? He seems to be more trouble than he's worth." He shook his head and turned back to the dishes, opting to try and forget what transpired today.

Just as he was about to reach for a new plate to wash, he felt a tug at the back of his jacket. Sanji turned his head to look at what it was, only to be yanked further back and away from the sink. He moved with the tugs, as to not lose his balance and fall flat on his back. He caught a glimpse of Robin's hands, forming a line from the table and pulling him toward it.

Just as he was about to voice a protest, the backs of his knees hit one of the chairs situated at the table. Sanji fell back onto it unceremoniously and had to act quickly to right himself, unless he wanted to end up in a heap on the floor. He pulled the cigarette from between his lips, exhaling the smoke then looked at Robin, furrowing his brow in confusion at her. "Robin-chan, what was that for?"

"I think you should join in on the conversation, since you're the one that brought him here in the first place, it's only fair that you have a part in the decision cook-san," Robin smiled, placing her chin in her hand. "Don't you think so?"

Before Sanji could respond to her, the dragon seemed to decide that Sanji's lap was a good seat, seeing as he had just made his way over to the blond and plopped right down into the man's lap. As the dragon was making himself comfortable, Sanji pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, shaking his head. "Really? Did you have to do that?" Sanji asked the dragon, fixing him with a weak glare.

The only response he got was a cooing sound as the dragon curled its long tail around Sanji's waist, flapping his wings a few times, then settling down, looking right up at the cook.

Sanji shook his head and took a drag of his smoke. This dragon really was more trouble than it, or well he was worth. Seriously, why did the little guy think that Sanji of all people was his mother?

Sure, Sanji was the first one that the dragon saw, and the one that first spoke to the little guy, but that didn't mean that Sanji, who was in fact a man, was the dragon's mother. Sanji wasn't a dragon, or even a lizard. He also didn't have the ability to lay eggs, so how would he be this thing's mother?

Sanji shook his head and sighed once more. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "I don't really want to have a say in what happens to the little guy." He said, looking up at Robin.

Robin crossed her arms. "Then we can have captain-san choose." She looked right at Luffy, who was now sitting at the table once more.

Luffy started to drool. "Meat!"

Sanji groaned. "I get your point Robin-chan, I get it." He looked down at the dragon and ran his fingers down its spine.

Luffy slumped onto the table. "Does this mean we don't get to eat the dragon?" He asked.

Sanji chose to shoot Luffy with a sharp look in favor of responding verbally to the idiot. He then looked back down at the dragon and decided that they couldn't keep the little guy, but they also couldn't just leave him in the wild. This was a dragon, and a baby at that. The little guy didn't know how to defend himself. Plus, if they did need emergency rations, they didn't have to use Chopper anymore, not that they actually would in the first place. Chopper didn't have to know that though.

"We have to find his mother." Sanji said, looking up at the crew and just daring someone to protest.

Zoro made a show of searching, then looked right at Sanji and smirked. "I found his mother!" He said and pointed at Sanji.

Sanji grit his teeth so hard that he ended up snapping apart the filter of his cigarette. He glared daggers at Zoro, making it a point to try and show all of his rage in that one look. He looked ready to pounce on the brute, and would have if not for Robin's hand appearing out of the table and grabbing his arm firmly. Sanji looked at Robin, about to ask her to let him go and snapped his mouth shut, looking at the mysterious smile she was sporting.

"Cook-san, just ignore him. This is not the time to fight. Plus, our little dragon seems bothered to be moved around so suddenly." She said and gave him a pointed look.

Sanji sighed and slumped back in his chair, running his hand down the dragon's back to try and comfort him a little. "Sorry Robin-chan." He said and smiled apologetically at the dragon, though he didn't know why.

"We can't keep calling him little dragon, or things like that." Usopp pointed out suddenly, deciding that now was a decently good time to pop into the conversation.

"Longnose-kun is right, we should give the dragon a temporary name until we find his mother." Robin said, lifting her cup of coffee to her lips and taking a calm sip.

"Robin-chan, you're so smart!" Sanji swooned, though he wasn't sure that would be the best idea as it wouldn't be very good if they were to somehow get attached to the little guy.

Nami looked at the dragon and moved her hand over to him cautiously, hoping that it wouldn't try to snap her fingers off. She ignored Sanji's happy squirming, as she was rather close to him due to the little guy sitting in Sanji's lap. She placed her hand on his head and smiled when the dragon relaxed into her touch. "He's actually pretty cute." She said, pulling her hand back.

"I think he needs a super name!" Franky piped in, rather enthusiastically.

"Might I suggest we all try and think of a name?" Brook asked, sipping his tea.

Usopp started listing off names that sort of suited the little guy, but no one seemed to fully agree on it. Luffy occasionally popped in with a completely stupid name that even had the dragon looking offended. Sanji couldn't help but feel sorry for the little guy whenever Luffy shouted out yet another horrible idea. Just as Sanji was about to tell Luffy to stop, something completely unexpected happened.

"We should call him Aki."

Sanji stared at Zoro with wide eyes, shocked that Zoro was willing to contribute in the ideas for names, and even more shocked that the name worked so well with the little guy.

"Bright," Robin said thoughtfully, smiling her knowing smile at Zoro. "You want to name the dragon Aki, which means bright. Might I ask why?"

Zoro shrugged, looking absolutely bored and disinterested. "The dragon is pretty smart and knows what we're talking about. Plus, he's blue and his scales can shine brightly if the light is right."

Sanji was certain that his jaw was almost hitting the floor. That was a very thoughtful response. He shook his head and looked down at the little dragon. "Don't expect that all the time, he's pretty stupid." He informed the little guy, ignoring Zoro's protests at being called stupid.

The dragon was looking at Zoro, and he turned his head to Sanji and let out a few clicking sounds once more. He rubbed the side of his face against Sanji's stomach affectionately, much like a cat. This little guy was really odd, and probably one of a kind.

"So, should we name him Aki?" Usopp asked, looking straight at Sanji.

Sanji furrowed his brow when he felt all eyes turn to him. "Why the hell are you asking me?" He asked Usopp, crossing his arms with a huff.

"Well, the dragon likes you the most so it seems fit that you choose the name." Chopper said, choosing his words carefully.

Sanji rolled his eyes and looked down at the guy. "Do you like the name Aki?" He asked.

The dragon made a few happy clicking sounds and jumped back up onto the table. He looked pretty excited.

Sanji chuckled. "Aki it is." He said and leaned back.

Aki let out something that could only be described as an attempted roar, though it was more of a high pitched screech. With that screech came a small amount of fire that was aimed right at Zoro, most likely by accident.

Zoro narrowly managed to dodge the flames, glaring at Aki. "What the hell was that for!?"

"He was trying to thank you!" Chopper piped in.

"By trying to set me on fire?" Zoro growled, glaring daggers at Aki.

Sanji laughed, grinning. "Aki, I think I'm going to enjoy you being here." He said, lighting one of his cigarettes.

Zoro growled and stalked out of the room, snagging a bottle of sake on his way out.

Sanji was too amused to care, deciding that Zoro could have the bottle as a reward for coming up with a fitting name. "Well Aki, you're going to fit right in until we get you back home buddy." He smiled and got up, moving around the kitchen to make a snack for the crew.

Aki screeched in joy and flapped his wings, not yet able to take flight just yet.

"Well, I'm going to go to town and see what I can find out about the dragon egg. I have a vague idea of the shop you told me about Cook-san. Would you like to join me navigator-san?" Robin got up and looked at Nami with a kind smile.

Nami nodded and got up. "I think that's best, as I need to find out what I can so I can navigate us to this island. It's going to be hard without an internal pose. This is the grand line after all." She sighed, knowing that things were going to get messy.

"We'll be fine Nami! You're our navigator! You'll get us wherever we need to be. Plus, Aki needs his real mommy. Sanji isn't a very good dragon!" Luffy said, earning himself a kick to the head by Sanji, though there wasn't much force behind it.

Nami smiled and nodded, heading off the ship with Robin. Luffy always knew what to say, even though he had a weird way of saying it.

Sanji looked at the dragon and smiled softly, knowing that they might be getting in over their heads. But Luffy already chose their course of action so there was not turning back now. They were going to get Aki back where he belonged, no matter what.

* * *

**Happy valentine's day c-dragon-pirates! I had so much fun writing this and I hope you enjoy it. I know it doesn't look like ZoSan but there is a reason for that. What I'm going to do here, is make this a multi chapter story and add the ZoSan later on. I already have another chapter partially written. The idea just didn't want to fit into one chapter so I decided why not. I really hope you don't mind that! **

**This fic was made for the zosan secret valentine's event going on. You guys should all go check it out and join up next year. It's super fun and run by a very awesome person! **

**Thanks for reading this, I really hope you enjoyed it!**


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